The Cursed Island
by Moana Fan Girl
Summary: Maui is pulling up islands when he discovers an island with thick black smoke coming from it. After he saves the island, he tells Moana about it, but is this island cursed? Or is Maui just worried too much? Rated T just in case. WARNING: May contain spoilers. (Chapters 5-6 being rewritten.)
1. Chapter 1 - The Mysterious Fire

Maui was up on the mast of the boat, holding onto it as he looked straight ahead or around for any danger. The ocean seemed calm, so he figured no threats were coming his way. He glanced around, trying to see if there were any enemy boats he had to steer clear of. He then jumped down from the mast and felt the water to see if he was near any other islands that were hidden in the ocean after seeing the coast was clear.

He grinned as he felt warm water before taking his hand out and shaking the water off. Soon, there would be a new island for people to wayfind to. As he grabbed his hook, he looked down at the ocean, hoping for it to tell him where to throw it so he could snag the island, and that it did.

He saw the ocean rise up and point down a few inches in front of his boat. He looked at where it was pointing and threw his hook down, hoping he would snag it the first time, though he knew he hadn't done it in years since his theft of Te Fiti's Heart and being stuck on an island for a thousand years.

_Here we go..._ He thought as he took a deep breath, _My first time pulling up islands in years._

He tightly gripped his hook as he felt it finally snag something. As he began to pull on his hook, he started to focus on how heavy the island was and how much force he'd need to use in order to pull it up. And yup, this island was pretty heavy.

He clenched his eyes shut and his teeth as he pulled with all his strength, even tightening his muscles so he could pull the island up without his hook slipping from his grip.

_C'mon..._ He thought, still pulling back on his hook, _Get up here!_

He then had a feeling the rope on his hook could snap due to how big the island was and how thin his hook was compared to an island so he started pulling up instead of back. As he pulled up, however, he noticed the pressure on his back, so he moved as close to the boat's edge as possible so he could pull up without bending his back too much.

After a few minutes, as he squinted an eye open and looked at the water, he could finally see the top of the island slowly moving up. Right now he would get excited at his feat and how he was still able to pull it off after so many years, but he decided to contain his excitement as he continued to pull the island up.

_There's a time to get excited and a time to remain serious._ He thought to himself, _Right now, I'd rather not disappoint mortals by letting my excitement get the best of me and losing the island._

* * *

Thirty minutes had gone by and Maui had finally pulled up the island. As he looked at it, he noticed it had a mountain just like Motonui did, but the mountain looked almost as big as Lalotai itself.

_Whoa..._ He thought, just staring at the island, his mouth hanging open, _That is HUGE!!_

A grin then crept its way onto his face as he held his hands out towards the island and shouted, "That is HUGE!! I've never seen an island that big before!"

The ocean then came up and nodded as Maui just stood there, staring at the island he'd just found and bouncing up and down from excitement, his feet not leaving the floor of the boat.

"This is AMAZING!!" He continued to shout, no longer bouncing up and down, "Wait until I tell Moana about the size of this island! She's gonna be SO proud!"

As he got ready to turn his boat around, the ocean soaked him to get his attention. Moving his wet hair out of his face, he turned around to glare at the ocean.

"What was that for?!" He asked it, clearly not too happy about getting soaked. As the ocean made a gesture towards the other open spaces of water, Maui rolled his eyes. "Can't that wait for after I tell Moana about the island I just pulled up?"

The ocean then did a motion as if it was rolling invisible eyes before going back down into the water. Maui smiled at this.

_There, that's better._ He thought, feeling a bit satisfied about the ocean finally leaving him alone, _Now, off to find Moana._

As he started to sail off, however, the ocean made a big wave to capsize his boat, sending him straight into the water as his boat flipped upside-down.

_Oh, come on!_ He thought, feeling annoyed as he glared up at the surface of the water before swimming up to it before getting a breath of air.

"What are you trying to do?! Kill me?!" He asked the ocean as he grabbed onto his boat and flipped it back upright before climbing onto it, now completely soaking wet as water dripped off of him. The ocean just stayed silent as Maui squeezed the water out of his hair.

"Alright, so you don't want me to see Moana." He said, looking down at the huge puddle of water beneath him, "And I'm guessing it's because you want me to pull up another island, don't you?"

The ocean just came up and nodded, causing Maui to roll his eyes.

"Okay, just _one_ more island, alright?" He asked, crossing his arms, "After that, I go to see Moana since pulling up islands takes a lot of strength."

Mini-Maui heard this and pretended to pull up an island before pretending to be tired from it in order to tease Maui.

"Hey! Don't even go there, Tiny." He told his tattooed counterpart, "I am still strong enough to pull up an island or two. It's just that after a few islands I need a rest, since pulling them up requires me to use my muscles and all my strength."

Mini-Maui just crossed his arms and rolled his eyes as if saying, "Yeah right."

Maui just sighed as he flicked his tiny counterpart to his back and started to sail towards another open body of water.

_Okay, I'm sure that there has to be an island nearby, but far enough away to have to be sailed to from the one I just pulled up._ He thought to himself, _The islands we already have are far enough away from each other to require sailing__ so__...__it should be the same with islands we have to pull up._

As he had finished his thought, he saw something like black smoke that was coming from far into the distance. He quickly jumped onto the mast and hung on, using his hand to shade his eyes from the sun. He squinted his eyes and he could see what looked like a _tiny_ island, but he assumed it would be as big as a normal island from close up.

_Wait why is there smoke coming from an island?!_ Maui thought, his eyes wide with shock, _Is it...on fire?!_

He then quickly jumped down from the mast of the boat, got behind it and quickly pulled the string to straighten the sheet, using his powers to control the wind so he could get there faster, the speed he was now going causing the wind to rush through his hair.

"WOOHOO!!!" He shouted, a big smile on his face before he suddenly remembered the island that was in trouble and shaking his head. "Uh, I mean...CHE-HOO!!!" He then corrected before putting a serious expression on his face.

As he began to get closer to the island, his eyes began to water a little from the thick black smoke. He began to look around at everything he could see so far, but nothing seemed to be causing the smoke. In fact, that part of the island seemed just fine!

_The sky!_ He thought before looking up, seeing the thick cloud of smoke billowing from above the trees, _Of course! The smoke has to be coming from somewhere deep within the island!_

He narrowed his eyes as he grabbed his hook firmly in his hands, looking straight ahead at the island again thinking, _Giant hawk, go!_

With a swing of his hook, he transformed into a hawk and flew up into the sky. As he did, however, he breathed in the smoky air, causing him to cough and fly away from where the smoke was.

As he looked around, he spotted the smoke billowing up from a spot with lots of trees. As he flew as close as possible but so as to not inhale any of the smoke, he saw some orange flames through the leaves in the trees and the thick smoke.

_Forest fires..._ Maui thought, wondering what could have caused the fire in the first place knowing the weather wasn't bad at all earlier in the day nor in the past few days, plus he knew a fire that hadn't already spread and burned up the entire forest yet had to have happened not too long ago.

Though as a realization struck him, he froze, almost forgetting for a split second that he was still in the air in his hawk form. Luckily his reflexes quickly saved him after he had just started to fall, causing him to start flapping his wings again.

_The people of this island..._ Maui thought, having not seen a single villager on the island yet, _Where are they? Did they make it out safe?!_ A chill ran down his spine causing him to shiver.

What if the villagers _didn't_ make it out alive and everyone just perished in the flames? He began to feel even more worried now. But his worry quickly vanished as something clicked in his head. How would the villagers perish if the fire wasn't widespread and engulfing the whole forest?

_Okay, there's nothing to worry about._ He thought to himself as he took a deep breath to calm himself, _The villagers are just fine and out safe in their boats. Now, all I need to do is__ find a way to put this fire out. The ocean can't help so that's a 'no'. But what else can help me?_

It didn't take long before the idea of weaving a basket made of leaves came to his mind. He smiled and flew over to one of the trees that were not burning, plucked a few leaves from it using his beak and flew to the shore of the island where his boat was still floating.

It only took him a few minutes to weave the basket but after he was finished, he went closer to the shore, held the basket out and the ocean seemed to splash some water into the basket.

"Thank you!" Maui called to it as he turned into his hawk form, flew up with the basket and flew towards the fire.

As he got close to the smoke but not close enough to breathe in the fumes, he held his breath before flying above it and dumping the water from the basket over the flames.

* * *

Thirty minutes had gone by since Maui started to dump water onto the fire, and he was quite proud with his progress. The fire was now reduced to a medium-sized fire, but still a little bit bigger than a campfire.

_A few more baskets and this fire will be out._ He thought, smiling to himself, _Then maybe the gods will give me a new tattoo to add to my list of accomplishments._

After he flew back over to the ocean, he landed and changed to his human form.

"Okay, Ocean," he said as he once again held the basket out, "more water plea-" Before he could finish, the ocean decided to splash some water into his mouth like it did after he had tried to escape Moana's boat as they were sailing to restore Te Fiti's Heart.

Maui spit the water out, not looking too happy with the ocean as he opened his eyes before asking in an annoyed tone, "Seriously?"

The ocean didn't reply as it splashed water into the basket he was holding.

"Thank you..." Maui said, the annoyed tone not leaving his voice. The ocean just nodded a "You're welcome" in reply.

As Maui changed back to his hawk form, he flew back to where the last of the fire was.

* * *

_Well, that oughtta take care of it!_ Maui thought 10 minutes later as he looked down at where the fire used to be, _Now if these mortals decide to come back, they know who to thank! And if not..._

Maui grabbed a sharp rock up off the ground, then pressed it into the trunk of the tree and began to carve what looked like his fish hook into it.

_There!_ He thought as he finished, throwing the rock aside with a smile, _That should let them know that the great demigod Maui was here, and possibly get them to believe in me if they don't already.__ Or maybe one of them knows about me and could tell the others about me._

He once again changed into his hawk form and flew into the sky, shouting, "CHE-HOO!!!" before flying towards his boat. As he did, he wondered if he could try to find the villagers who had fled the island.

He then shook his head upon remembering that the ocean had wanted him to pull up another island before he even noticed the smoke that had risen from the island he was currently at. He then decided that the mortals would just come back later possibly to see if their island was saved by the gods.

In fact, he didn't know exactly _why_ he had come to the island in the first place once he noticed there was smoke coming from it. He felt it was just his natural instinct to be a hero, since in his title were the words, "Hero of Men and Women", or "Hero to All", to put it shortly.

As he landed on his boat, he shapeshifted back to his human form, looking around at the different parts of his body that he could see before spotting it: a tattoo of him splashing water onto a fire using a basket.

_Yup, I am a hero._ He thought to himself with a smile, _A hero to men, women, and most importantly a hero to all, even if Moana once said I was not her hero when we first met._ He chuckled at the memory, knowing now - or at least believing - that their journey to restore the Heart of Te Fiti had changed her mind, especially when he had distracted Te Kā with one of his hakas so she could restore the Heart.

He remembered it fondly: He was looking death in the face, knowing that his life would end if one of Te Kā's fireballs had hit him due to the heat being hot enough to not leave traces of a body behind, thus turning whoever was hit by them to either ash or nothing. But he still did his haka as a way of challenging her, showing no fear even at the risk of his own life.

He then started to sail across the ocean again after the memory, hoping to find another island to pull up. Though thinking about the island he'd pulled up earlier before seeing the island he was just at in flames, he still couldn't help but feel excited about telling Moana about it.

* * *

**Okay so in the beginning of it I had no ideas for a story so I just started to write whatever came to my mind, which then ****came to this.**


	2. Chapter 2 - Worries

A little ways away from the island he had left, which he jokingly referred to as Fire Island since the whole fire thing and not knowing what exactly could have caused it, Maui had felt the water and was now trying to pull up the island he had found after feeling the water was warm and dropping his fish hook into the water.

As he pulled up the island, he did the same exact thing he started to do with the last island he'd pulled up since he discovered that was easiest for him and much easier on his back.

Seeing the top of this island in less than five minutes and the weight being lighter than the last island he pulled, he realized this island must be a small island. But that didn't matter to him since not every mortal needed a large island.

* * *

Twenty-five minutes had passed and Maui had finally pulled up the island, which seemed to have plenty of greenery like trees and such. Maui was confused as to how the plants seemed to be able to live completely submerged under water.

_How is that even possible?_ He thought, _It's almost like something out of a fantasy! Heck, maybe even a cartoon!_

He then remembered Te Fiti and suddenly realized that she could be the one keeping the plants alive, forming some sort of barrier to protect the plants as they were underwater. But after he stole the Heart, how did they remain protected by the barrier if there even was one?

He found out that Te Kā was actually Te Fiti after Moana had finally restored the Heart with his help. But one-thousand years ago, he had no idea Te Kā even _was_ Te Fiti and never even thought about the possibility! Besides, his back was turned on the island, so he had no idea the goddess Te Fiti had disappeared before becoming what he thought was a "lava monster" since it had appeared in front of him to keep him from getting away with the Heart.

After the thought, he figured that the ocean had kept the barrier around the islands despite it becoming unsafe for people to sail on, since the wrath of Te Kā only affected the mortals' ability to sail since the ocean was always full of huge, dangerous waves that could capsize Wayfinders' boats or push them away in another direction.

He wasn't too aware of the damage him stealing the Heart of Te Fiti had done since crashing on the island, but he remembered having nightmares about it from time to time before suddenly jolting awake and breathing heavily, the nightmares having to do with him sailing before a large wave came and knocked him off his boat, causing him to fall into the water only to be pulled down forcefully by the water with no way to swim back up to the surface. Then his nightmare would end.

He often told himself it was just a nightmare though, nothing serious. Though he had no idea it was true until late one night when he couldn't get to sleep and was sitting on the rocks looking out at the ocean, a thunderstorm started up. He had no idea it would be his last night on the island he called a "filthy pile of pebbles", since the next day he'd meet Moana.

As he remembered all that stuff, he didn't realize how long he'd been standing on the edge of the boat until the ocean reached out a tentacle and poked his shoulder, snapping him out of his thoughts as he shook his head.

"What?" He asked as he looked back down at it. The ocean then made a gesture as if reminding him of his plan to visit Moana, the gesture being a waving motion with its tentacle then splashing up at him as if it was throwing something back at him.

_Moana..._ Maui remembered, eyes wide as he looked at the ocean, remembering when the ocean once threw the Heart of Te Fiti back at him and the time it threw Hei Hei into Moana's arms when he had gotten the hang of using his hook again, _That's right! I was going to visit her and tell her about the island I'd pulled up earlier!_ He then smiled at the ocean and said, "Thanks buddy."

The ocean then gave him a nod before going back into the water as Maui pulled the rope attached to the sheet and began to sail back to Moana's island.

* * *

As Maui approached Moana's island in his boat, he noticed her standing on the shore, looking out at the ocean as if awaiting his return. Maui smiled at her and shouted, "Hey, kid!" This seemed to get her attention as a big smile quickly spread across her face.

"Maui!" She called excitedly, the biggest smile he had ever seen now on her face as she quickly walked as close to the water as possible, "I've been waiting for you to return! How have you been?"

_Still the same girl, I see._ Maui thought with a smile as he reached the shore and got off his boat to hug her, _You know, despite being Chieftess, she hasn't changed much._

Before he could walk over to hug her, Moana rushed over and wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace.

"Maui, I've missed you..." She said, gently pulling away from the hug, "After we last saw each other...I thought you were going to be gone for a while, especially since-"

"I know kid, I've been gone a few days." Maui interrupted with a playful roll of his eyes, "And I know how much you must have missed my big muscles and beautiful, silky hair." Moana just rolled her eyes and giggled.

"Yeah, sure." She replied playfully, "I _did_ miss that, but only in your dreams." Maui chuckled.

"Ouch." He said before looking up at a palm tree that had some ripe coconuts on it. Moana giggled at his reaction before seeing what he was looking at.

_Hmm, I'm kinda hungry right now._ Maui thought, still staring up at the palm tree, _Maybe I could have a coconut to hold me off until lunch__._ Realizing how hungry he actually was, he then thought, _No, I don't think a coconut would even hold me off. I need some_ real _food... In my belly!_ He then chuckled inwardly to himself, remembering the time he told Hei Hei that he was going to love him in his belly.

"Is something wrong Maui?" Moana asked, seeing him still staring at the palm tree. Maui then snapped out of his thoughts and looked at her.

"No, I'm fine kid." Maui replied, smiling at her, "I'm...just a little hungry is all." Moana smiled gently at him.

"Well why don't we go into the village and get you some food then?" Moana suggested, "How about that?" At this, Maui began to feel excited, but decided to contain it to the best of his ability.

"Yes please." Maui said, unable to keep the excitement from showing up a little in his voice, "I'd love - I mean, greatly appreciate - that." Moana giggled softly, knowing her best friend in the whole world was trying to be professional.

"Then come with me." Moana said, still smiling as she began to walk towards the village. Maui noticed something was different about how she had said that and how she sounded.

Instead of saying, "C'mon!" and trying to drag him along or something like that, she sounded calm. He couldn't help smiling as he followed her, knowing in his heart that she'd make a great Chieftess.

* * *

Maui and Moana both arrived in the village and as they walked through it, Maui started to catch the attention of all the villagers. He didn't know if he liked the attention he was getting as he walked through a crowd of people who believed in and worshipped him, but on any other occasion he'd admire the attention. But he wasn't so sure about now. He was actually worried about being surrounded by people and asked a bunch of questions or being asked for his autograph, since he knew he was extremely popular with her people.

Maui decided to just ignore them - as much as he hated ignoring his fans - and continued to follow Moana, keeping his eyes on her so he wouldn't worry too much about the large crowd watching him pass through. Having tons of fans was one thing that was tough about being a demigod. But it was also one of the blessings of being one. It all just depended on what he was doing or trying to do. Right now, being a popular demigod with fans crowding him and asking for either his autograph or something else was not a blessing.

After they had made it through the crowd, Maui couldn't help but breathe out a quiet sigh of relief, partly because the people in the crowd hadn't stopped him. He looked around, trying to find any nearby places which could serve food before spotting a table with food on top of it.

_Holy..._ He thought, but trailed off. He just stared at the different fruits and meats that were on the table, like pork, chicken and...steak? He smiled as he rubbed his hands together excitedly.

"You know, it is almost lunchtime." Moana said, gesturing to the areas where people were cooking the food, "And here you were looking at a palm tree saying you were hungry." She crossed her arms as she playfully rolled her eyes with a smile.

Trying to hide his embarrassment, Maui said, "Uh, well...I didn't know. Like, I wasn't really sure... You know, that's what living on a filthy pile of pebbles for one-thousand years does to ya." Moana just snorted and rolled her eyes playfully once again, her smile never leaving her face, obviously amused by Maui's excuse.

"Yeah. Right..." She said, looking at him again, "Next thing you're gonna tell me is that the gods _granted_ you magic powers that you can still use even without your hook." Maui looked shocked.

"How did _you_ know?" He asked her, his mouth hanging open. Moana giggled.

"Lucky guess...?" She said with a shrug. "I don't really know. Unless I'm actually a demigoddess who has the power to read minds." She then added playfully as she pointed both her fingers to her head. Maui snorted as he tried to hold in a laugh.

"Yeah, no." He said, a giggle escaping him as he spoke, "That can't be possible." Moana just looked at him, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh? And why not, Mr. Human-Turned-Demigod?" She asked with a bit of playful sassiness in her tone, her arms once again crossed, "Weren't _you_ human before?"

"No- I mean, yeah, I was!" Maui said, holding his hands up, "But the gods have to grant you special powers and, well...they have to find you worthy of being a demigoddess." Moana snorted and rolled her eyes.

"So you're saying I'm not worthy of being a demigoddess?" She asked, sounding serious but with a hint of playfulness in her voice.

"Hey, I didn't say you _are_ unworthy." Maui said with a smile as he rubbed the back of his neck, "I'm just saying that the gods have to find you worthy. And I'm sure you are worthy of being one but you have a village to run, so..." He shrugged.

"So?" Moana asked, putting her hands on her hips and raising an eyebrow as she smirked at him, "I can double-task."

"Look, being a demigod requires going other places besides your own village." Maui explained, "So even though you say you can double-task, it'd be almost impossible to lead your village and help other islands' villages too. I mean, I occasionally visit you from time to time but I still do my job of pulling up islands and helping people." He then suddenly remembered why he had visited her in the first place. "Speaking of helping people, I found an island that was _huge_ before extinguishing a fire on another island." Moana looked shocked.

"An island fire?!" She asked, her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open out of shock, "How did that happen?!" Maui shrugged.

"I dunno." He replied, seeing the food being put out finally, "I couldn't tell what had caused it, and if it was an object or something, then...it may have burnt up in the fire because I didn't see anything where I had extinguished it."

"How big was it?" Moana then asked, looking like she knew something about it and was trying to remember the details.

"Well it wasn't that big." Maui said with a shrug, "It looked like it had started not too long ago, like maybe an hour or so... Or maybe thirty minutes."

_Random island fire... An hour or maybe thirty minutes... Is this island...cursed?!_ Moana thought before looking up at Maui. "Take me to where it is." She said in a serious tone, "After lunch we can go." Not wanting to seem like he was questioning her, Maui just nodded.

_I wonder why we're going there__._ He thought, beginning to walk towards the food, _Is there something going on there?__ Did the island catch fire randomly? And if so, what could have caused it?_ Maui had this weird feeling in his gut telling him he didn't want to know...as if it already knew. He gulped.

* * *

After Maui had eaten lunch, he walked to the boat and checked the supplies. Not like he really needed to. He knew they probably wouldn't need any supplies since the island wasn't too far away. He just figured he'd do something to get his mind off that bad butterfly feeling in his stomach.

Suddenly he remembered getting it once as Moana held the Heart of Te Fiti up to him and close to his face, him believing it was cursed and telling her to get it away from him. He shuddered at the memory, not only because he was scared of it, but because his gut was telling him the island was most likely cursed. He sighed, turning around only to see someone running up to him.

Out of surprise and from being startled, he gasped and held his chest, letting out a few heavy breaths before calming down and realizing it was Moana.

Not wanting to seem like there was anything wrong, he leaned against the boat before smiling nervously and saying, "Heeyy, Moana! What's up? You ready to go to that island?" He then thought, _'Cause I'm sure not!_

"Are...you okay?" Moana asked, looking confused, "Because usually when you greet me you're like, 'Hey, kid!'" Maui just sighed.

"Look kid, I have a bad gut feeling about that island now." He explained, looking down and gently kicking the sand, "I mean, I wanted to ask you _why_ we were going...but I didn't wanna seem like I was questioning you. Then after that, I got a bad gut feeling about the island. The same bad feeling I got when you showed me the Heart of Te Fiti on the boat after we first met... I think the island might be cursed." Moana's eyes widened as she realized something:

Not only was Maui afraid of the Heart of Te Fiti, but he was afraid of _anything_ he believed was cursed. She didn't know why, nor did the stories say he had a bad experience with curses before. He just seemed to be afraid of them for some unknown reason...and she wanted to find out why.

* * *

**Okay so I figured this would be a good place to end the chapter (since it's already at 3K words) and I hope you enjoyed! I had to figure out where the plot was going so I didn't publish the story after making the first chapter like I normally do since I had no idea where the plot would lead. So I just decided to wait until I finally got to a place where I could finally give it a name and a description.**

**This is all for now, and I will be starting on the third chapter. So until then, well...just rate or leave a review, but only if you want to or feel like it.**


	3. Chapter 3 - Sailing to the Island

After reluctantly getting on the boat and beginning to set sail for the island, the feeling of uneasiness in his gut grew and he felt his heart beginning to beat faster. As the uneasiness grew, he began to feel sick. He'd felt it before: Nausea. He remembered telling Moana that if she started singing, he was going to throw up. But he didn't really feel nauseous then. And he sounded serious, but he actually wasn't. He was just trying to discourage her from singing, though he felt a little nauseous as he thought about it, and that was before he had told her. But that wasn't actual nausea...or was it?

He remembered being nervous before heading off to steal the Heart of Te Fiti. He remembered tales from people before he had set off to steal it saying that the Heart had a curse where it'd bring misfortune and suffering to those who had stolen it. He'd hoped the legend wasn't true, but he knew that Te Fiti _was_ a goddess. But he just shook the thought of it being cursed and set off, telling himself that maybe she wouldn't mind if he borrowed the Heart, just so he could give humans the power to create life before giving it back.

As soon as he got to Te Fiti's island in his hawk form, he felt very nervous as he started to remember the story about the curse and took a deep breath to calm down before landing and heading off in pursuit of the Heart, telling himself it was only just a scary story meant to scare people out of taking it. As soon as he reached the Heart, as he put his hook on the Heart to dislodge it from its resting spot, he hesitated a bit due to nervousness coming back up before deciding to just get it over with and finally dislodging it.

Then he remembered that's where he felt it: the butterflies and the nausea as he made his escape, common sense telling him to put it back while his own stupidity told him to keep going, since it was for the humans, after all. He wanted to be loved and respected but his actions of giving them everything they needed wasn't enough for them, and by giving the humans the power to create life, there wouldn't be _anything_ they could ask for that he couldn't give!

He remembered his escape - especially his escape from the boulder that landed on him that he simply broke as a blue light glowed from his hook - and recalled that he didn't notice Te Fiti disappearing as he flew to his boat due to his back being turned to her.

He then remembered the bad gut feeling coming back to him stronger than ever as Te Kā rose out of the rocks in front of him, but he wasn't about to let fear - and some old horror story - get in his way as he readied his hook and clutched it tighter in his grasp as he glared at the giant lava monster, ready to fight if necessary. He then remembered it starting to swing its hand at him as he jumped up high in the air, Te Kā's fiery hand meeting his trusty fish hook, the impact causing Maui to let go of his hook, sending it and the Heart under the ocean.

As for Maui, the impact sent him crashing down in the water on the shore of a deserted island with lots of rocks on it, his injuries being not too fatal thanks to being a demigod but he still felt hurt... Badly. He also remembered that he walked with a limp after that.

"Hey." Moana's voice said, snapping him out of his thoughts as he began to turn to look at her, "Why do you have a fear of cursed objects or even cursed islands?" Maui sighed, looking down.

"Look kid, before Te Fiti I heard about this curse that came with the Heart." He explained, his voice quiet but loud enough for her to hear, "They said that if you stole Te Fiti's Heart, bad things would happen to you. They called it a 'curse'... Before that I thought it was just a story meant to scare people into never stealing it, so I went. Long story short, yes, I did feel that bad gut feeling as I saw the island itself, but I continued on thinking it was just a story meant to scare people. I hesitated taking the Heart, but I stupidly decided to just get it over with and take it.

"After I ran to get out of there, my nervousness came back and part of me was telling me to put the Heart back as the other part was telling me that what I was doing was for the humans and if I gave them the power to create life itself, there would be nothing they could ask for that I couldn't give... Once Te Kā came up out of the rocks, the bad feeling came back to me stronger than before, but I wasn't going to let some silly horror story - nor my fear - get in the way of what I had come to do. After landing on that island...I realized the curse was true. From then on, I began to fear only things that were said to be cursed, having learned my lesson the hard way from Te Kā's fiery wrath."

"So the stories we knew about you weren't one-hundred percent true..." Moana said, her eyes wide in realization, "When my gramma would tell the stories she made you seem brave." She shook her head upon realizing how that sounded before quickly correcting herself, saying, "I mean, not saying you aren't... But the way my gramma said it, she just...made it seem like you went in there without any hesitance."

"Yeah, different people have different stories about me." Maui explained with a shrug, "Some say I...stole the Heart of Te Fiti so I could get the power to create life for myself while sharing it with the mortals. Also, about taking Tamatoa's leg, some people say I hadn't met him yet and I just...took it, possibly for some weird medicinal crap or something like that. Or I did it just to feed an island... But the truth is...we were both after the Heart." Moana's eyes were wide as she listened in awe.

"So you took his leg...just to get the Heart for yourself?" She asked. Maui sighed.

"No," he said, turning and looking at the water ahead of them, "I took his leg...just so I could get the Heart for you mortals, so you could have the power to create life itself." He looked back at her with a smile. "That's what I said when we first met, right?" Moana smiled and nodded.

"Yeah." She said, smiling back, "And it's nice of you to try to give us the power to create life itself, but...we could always pray to Te Fiti to create life for us." Maui chuckled, knowing she was right as he remembered his mistake.

As he turned to look ahead of them again, there was the silhouette of the island he had sailed to: the one that was on fire. His heartbeat once again started to rise and he started to sweat, and just as he looked into the sky, he noticed dark clouds looming over them.

_Maybe the cursed island_ – he gulped – _knew we were coming back._ After the thought, he held his trusty fish hook to his chest, not noticing how tight he had it in his grasp. That is, until Moana had placed a reassuring, comforting hand on his shoulder. Then he realized how tight he was holding it.

"We'll be okay." Moana said, smiling assuredly at him, "We just need to figure out what is making this island cursed, solve it then go back on our way to my island." Maui smiled at her but his expression then quickly turned to disbelief as he heard her mention finding out why the island was cursed and solving it. Was that even possible?

"Look, Curly, I know you want to save the day again, but I don't think there is a way to _solve_ an island being cursed like that." He said, shrugging her hand off, "I mean, if an island is cursed, it's cursed! There's no way around it." Moana rolled her eyes with a smile.

"Unless..." She began but trailed off, looking at him with just her eyes. Maui looked up at her.

"Unless what?" He asked, now curious as to what she'd say.

"Unless the island has an object on it that's cursed." Moana finished, now smirking at the demigod as if she knew for sure she was right.

"Oh no." Maui said, his eyes now wide-open with fear as he backed away to the edge of the boat, "Oh no no no, _no_... I am _not_ going near _any_ cursed objects. You can't make me!" Moana's smirk grew at this.

"I can't," she began as an idea popped into her head as she remembered how she convinced him to help restore the Heart, "but the sake of the humans can. So you wanna save the humans and continue being a hero to them like you were when you helped restore the Heart of Te Fiti, or...do you want to let them down by leaving the island cursed and not getting rid of the object if there is one? I mean, it's your choice." Maui scowled at this like he did when she fired the question of beating a lava monster back at him.

"Okay fine..." He said with a sigh of defeat, beginning to hold his hook tightly again as he looked at her with a serious look on his face, "Let's get rid of that curse. Well, somehow..." Moana smiled before running over to him and hugging him with a giggle.

"I'm glad I could count on you." She said, truly happy he decided to help her try to get rid of the curse, "You know, you really are brave, even when it comes to a cursed island or something." Not wanting to boost his ego too high nor give him something to brag about she added, "Well, I mean...sometimes." Maui chuckled.

"Well kid, as much as I'd hate to admit it, you do have your ways of getting me to do things." He said with a shrug, "Even when they're things I don't want to do." Moana smiled.

"I guess I do." She said with a shrug, "And it's something I guess I could be proud of, because sometimes you gotta have teamwork to get the job done." Maui stifled a laugh and smiled instead.

"Now where'd you hear that?" He asked her, nudging her elbow playfully, "It sounds like you got that from me."

"Well I may have learned a few things from you on our journey to restore the Heart." Moana mentioned with a smile, "But I'm sure that's one thing we both learned. Because there is no-"

"-I in team." Maui interrupted with a smirk.

"Maui!" She shouted with a laugh as she playfully shoved him. Maui chuckled.

"What?" He asked with a smile, "I'm just finishing the saying!" Moana giggled.

"I know." She said before looking ahead and seeing the island a few feet away. "So, you ready to get this over with?" She then asked as she looked back at him. Maui just had a worried look on his face, but upon noticing her looking at him, his worry seemed to fade and he gave an almost confident nod.

"Yeah." He told her with a slight smile, "Let's get this over with and return to the island." Moana knew he was still afraid of going onto the island after his realization from earlier, but she shrugged it off.

"Okay let's go." She said, grabbing hold of the rope and making the boat move faster, "We will find out the source of the curse, stop it, then go back-" Before she could finish as she docked the boat, she saw Maui climb off of it, the water level reaching his knees. Moana looked kind of concerned as she hopped off and stepped onto the island's sandy beach.

"Do you wanna know where I found the fire at?" He asked her, slightly tilting his head as he turned to face her, "Maybe that'll help us find this curse thing faster. Though as I put out the fire, I didn't see anything that seemed to have caused it." Moana smiled then nodded.

"Okay." She said as he walked up on the beach, still seeming hesitant, "Lead the way, Maui." Maui nodded then started to walk to the forest, his heart rate increasing a bit before he took a deep breath, trying to rid himself of the tension.

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**I know this chapter is only 2K words, but this chapter was planned to be them travelling to the island, so that's why it's a bit shorter than the last two.**

**Also thank you to Guest for reviewing! I'm glad you're enjoying it so far!**

**Anyway, I have plans for future chapters. I won't give too much away, but I'll give a hint: My plan for the future chapters is actually based on my idea for a possible sequel for _Moana_, so something will be happening with Maui. What will happen to our favorite demigod, you ask? Stay tuned for future chapters to find out!**

**Edit (3/5/20): Been meaning to do this for a while, but I edited out her thoughts of "Oh Maui, you and your fear of curses" and replaced her giggling with her looking concerned so she's more in-character. As for Maui easily opening up to her about his fear of curses, I'll just say that he felt he could trust her and was comfortable with telling her due to how she handled his explanation of how he was abandoned. Plus I'm not sure what I would replace his explanation of his fear of curses with and I feel that most of this chapter will have to be edited maybe (possibly shortening it a bit), so I just decided to leave his explanation in there.**

**I also added that an idea came to her as to how she could convince him to continue going to the cursed island and kept the original dialogue. I think when I originally wrote this chapter I felt it could be in her character to do that if she remembered how she had convinced him to restore the Heart of Te Fiti, but if you don't think she'd convince him that way, let me know how you think she'd convince him and I'll fix it.**


	4. Chapter 4 - Finding the Cause

**Before I begin this chapter, I'd like to give a big thank you to zabchan for reviewing! And no, you don't have to delete your review, it's just fine! I'm happy that you reviewed and offered a bit of help! It helps me to write the characters better! Also I'm glad to hear that the ocean and Maui were in character. I do try to make sure I keep the characters I'm writing for in-character or as close to their original character as possible.**

**Also I'll be sure to keep your critique on how I wrote the characters in mind. And thanks for helping me with the characters, I really appreciate it.**

**Anyway, here's the next chapter. I hope you enjoy!**

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After making it to the forest, Maui was still afraid of what lay ahead. He was afraid that if the whole island was cursed, bad things would eventually happen, either to him or Moana. He didn't want anything bad happening to her, so he was mostly alert. Moana seemed to notice he was afraid because his breathing seemed a bit different. It sounded shaky.

_Maybe it wasn't a good idea to get him to come here..._ She thought with a frown as they stopped at where the fire was earlier, _But I can't do this alone, I need his help. What if a __human like me can't stop the curse alone? Like, I don't even think we have anything to get rid of a curse!_ She then glanced at Maui and gently grabbed his hand.

"Hey, it'll be alright." She said softly and reassuringly, "I'm sure we can stop this curse." Maui had a bit of hesitation as to whether that was true or not, but he decided he could trust her and nodded.

"So this is where the fire started." He pointed out, holding his hand out towards the area, still a bit uneasy. "So what's your plan, girlie?" He added, his hands on his hips. Moana looked around.

"I say we...search the island and maybe even dig into the ground to see if there's a cursed object." She suggested, looking back at him, "If there is a cursed item in the ground, that might be the cause of the curse." Maui rolled his eyes.

"Mo, why would there be a cursed item in the ground?" He questioned, giving her an unamused look, "Like, who would think, 'Oh, I'm going to put this cursed item here and _bring us all to our doom_'?!" Moana rolled her eyes, not really appreciating his sarcasm before taking a deep breath.

"Maybe they wanted to get rid of the curse so they buried it." She guessed with a shrug, "Maybe they didn't know it could curse the whole island." Maui sighed, putting a hand to his forehead before rubbing it down his face.

"Moana, it's _cursed__!"_ He argued, throwing a hand into the air, "How would they not know it'd curse their island!?" Moana thought for a moment.

"Maybe..." She started, a finger to her chin as she thought about it, "Maybe some items can curse either the person possessing it or the whole island." Maui snorted.

"Right..." He said with a roll of his eyes, "If it cursed the whole island–"

"Or both!" Moana quickly interrupted as another idea came to her head, "Like if they owned the object, they could curse their whole island by burying it instead of just them being cursed!" Maui sighed while his tattooed counterpart pulled down a scoreboard and made a tally on Moana's side.

"Hey!" He told him, slightly glaring at him, "You stay out of this!" Mini Maui just shrugged, a smile on his face as Moana giggled.

"You know," she began with a smile, crossing her arms, "I believe it is possible. Besides, I've heard stories of it happening." Maui just rolled his eyes.

"Sure, Curly, your village knows _everything_." He said sarcastically, shaking his head, "And a cursed object can just curse an entire island instead of just the piece of property it's on or in. Like c'mon, your village even got some of my stories wrong! How do we know if an entire island getting cursed by one object is possible?" Despite one part of him believing her, the other part wanted to prove her wrong.

"Well how do we know it _isn't_ possible?" She tested with a smirk. Maui fell silent upon hearing that question as if trying to think about what to say. "See? I knew I was right!" She then cried triumphantly, throwing her hands in the air. Mini Maui marked another tally on the scoreboard then snickered. Maui glared at him before looking back at Moana with a sigh.

"Okay, okay..." He began, "Since I have nothing to say, y-you..." He trailed off before sighing, finding it hard to admit defeat. "Look kid, you haven't won yet. We still have to figure out how far this... This cursed item can reach." He then said instead of admitting defeat. Moana rolled her eyes playfully.

"Well let's go find it!" She urged, grabbing his hand and starting to run. But Maui didn't budge, not even a little. She looked at him with concern to see he was frowning. "Are you...okay?" She then asked.

"Do you think people can be cursed by touching a cursed object?" He asked her, a little bit of worry in his tone. Moana thought for a moment.

"Depends on what you mean by 'cursed'." She replied with a shrug, "If you mean people having bad stuff happen to them, yeah, I've heard it's possible." Maui shook his head.

"No, I knew _that_ was possible." He explained, holding his hands up in front of him, "By 'cursed' I mean 'possessed'." Despite the idea scaring him, he just had to ask so he could be careful. Moana shook her head.

"I don't know." She said honestly, "If I did though, I'd tell you. Sorry..." She then smiled sheepishly at him. Maui took a deep breath to try to calm his worried thoughts about what the cursed object might do.

"Okay..." He said, a brave look now on his face though he still felt a little uneasy on the inside, "Let's go find that cursed object." Moana smiled.

"That's the spirit Maui!" She encouraged with a smile. Maui smiled back.

"Thanks, kid." He said quietly, "It's good to know you have my back." Moana giggled.

"Well that's what friends are for, right?" She asked, playfully elbowing him in the ribs, "I mean, what kind of friend would I be if I didn't have your back?" Maui thought for a moment.

"Not a very good one, Curly." He replied with a smile, "Besides, if you didn't have my back, I would have to..." He trailed off, trying to think of something. Moana crossed her arms and smirked.

"You'd have to...?" She prodded, amused by him having to think of what he'd have to do. Maui frowned.

"You know what? Forget it." He said, waving a dismissive hand, "The only idea I got is throwing you into the ocean, but that won't work since the ocean would just end up bringing you back, anyway." Moana gave him a triumphant smile.

"You got that right, Mr. Demigod of the Wind and Sea." She said playfully. Maui rolled his eyes before getting an idea and smirking at her.

"Actually, it's Mr. Demigod of the Wind and Sea, Hero to All." He corrected jokingly. Moana snorted as she playfully rolled her eyes.

"Whatever you say Maui." She said, beginning to walk away. Maui's eyes widened and he quickly followed after her.

"Hey, what's that for?!" He questioned as he began to walk next to her.

"We're looking for that object, aren't we?" Moana hinted with a wink. Maui sighed.

"I know that Curly." He said, sounding annoyed, "So let's go find this thing so we can leave."

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After an hour of searching the island, they finally dug up the object. It was a stone that looked like the Heart of Te Fiti, but it was red.

_The Heart of Te Kā?_ Maui thought, raising an eyebrow, _I thought this was just a legen__d... But it's... It's here! But why...?_ Moana, who was staring at the stone as well, looked curious.

"What is that?" She asked, tilting her head to the side a bit, "And why does it look like the Heart of Te Fiti?" Maui sighed.

"It's the Heart of Te Kā." He said, closing the hand he was holding it with into a fist, "It was supposedly created by someone who wanted to recreate the destructiveness of Te Kā. It was meant to do the opposite of creating life by destroying it. Its creator used some type of curse on it, and it was that the island that possessed it would be cursed. I guess they fled this island since there are no sources of food here." Moana looked confused.

"If...its destruction supposedly caused the fire, why didn't it consume the whole island already?" She inquired, still curious. Maui opened his hand back up before tossing the stone on the ground.

"Because, Te Kā's wrath consumed the life of dozens of islands within one-thousand years of my absence." He answered with a sigh, "The Heart of Te Kā? Well, since it isn't something belonging to a goddess and Te Kā doesn't have a Heart" — he snorted as if he was trying to hold in laughter due to his unintentional pun — "the Heart we're seeing here, well...it can only consume an island within...maybe two or three years. But the island's food sources may slowly die off within...maybe half a year." Suddenly realization hit him before he added, "So the villagers must have fled this island a year-and-a-half ago..."

"Maui?" Moana then asked worriedly, "I-Is it supposed to be pulsing like the Heart of Te Fiti does?" Maui quickly turned his attention to the stone to see a flashing pattern that resembled a heartbeat, but he noticed Moana going over to pick it up before swiftly sticking an arm out in front of her to stop her.

"What are you doing?!" He whisper-shouted, a look of worry on his face, "You can't just run over and pick it up or bad things are gonna happen!" Moana snorted.

"Yeah, that's what you said about the Heart of Te Fiti." She said with a roll of her eyes before thinking about their conversation, "But...on second thought, I won't touch it." She then glanced back at the stone before adding, "But I _am_ curious on what'll happen if I do touch it." Maui gave her a stern look.

"Moana, _don't_." He warned, his tone serious, "I swear if you do I'll..." He trailed off as he glanced at the stone, having noticed it stop glowing from the corner of his eyes.

While Maui didn't remember what could happen if she had touched it while it was pulsating, he knew something bad could possibly happen. He decided to wait a few seconds to make sure it wouldn't start pulsating again. Once he was sure it wasn't pulsating, he picked it up.

That was a mistake, however, since it started pulsating again, the pattern seemingly keeping his attention.

"M-Maui?" Moana asked worriedly, but she received no response as he continued to stare at it, "MAUI!!"

She glanced around worriedly as she tried to look for something to break his attention from it before quickly climbing a tree and grabbing a leaf from it before letting herself slide down it and running towards him. But before she reached him, the pulsing stopped.

Confused and concerned, she asked, "Maui?" She recieved no reply before yelling, "Maui, this isn't funny!" She then knew something was off as the demigod turned around to face her, his face showing no emotion.

_Oh no..._ Moana thought, slowly backing away, _He can't be... I-Is he?_

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**Okay, I decided to end this chapter here because it's at 2K words already and I thought this'd be a good place to end it.**

**As for what happened to Maui in the ending, I dropped a hint earlier on in the chapter as to what was going to happen to him. If you found it, please do not say what it is nor where it is found in the reviews. The next chapter will reveal what happened to him.**

**I tried to look online to see if there were any cursed objects in Polynesian mythology but I couldn't find anything in the results except for a curse put on someone from the mythology (I don't remember the name), so I made up my own cursed object. I couldn't really think of anything but an idea popped into my head not too long after I tried to think of something, and I tried to make it something that could possibly be canon in the _Moana_ universe. So I hope it doesn't suck (since in my own head I was kind of worried it would).**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Also feel free to drop a review, I appreciate any feedback I can get (as long as it isn't flames)!**

**April, OUT!!**

**Edit (3/5/20): I know there's probably a lack of adventure in this by Chapter 5 and in Chapter 6 due to what I wanted to have happen to Maui, but I promise in Chapter 7 there will be adventure. So sorry if I disappointed anyone. But still, if you read ****this chapter**** and think there is and will be adventure in this, you're not wrong! So stay tuned!**


	5. Chapter 5 - The Start of a New Journey

**Before I begin, I'd like to give a big thank you to Guest for reviewing! I love getting feedback on my stories and I'm glad you're enjoying it so far! I didn't start writing this chapter yet after publishing the last one since I had ideas for other stories that I'm currently working on that are _Moana_-related, one of which is an idea that popped into my head one day that is kind of like a prompt.**

**Anyway, I'm sure you guys may want to get to reading this chapter, so I'll end this author's note here.**

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After fully turning around to face Moana, Maui flicked his wrist slightly, his hook beginning to glow blue at the motion. His face still showed no emotion as he began to slowly walk towards Moana.

"M-Maui! It's me, Moana!" She called, beginning to back away again from fear, "D-Don't you remember?!" Upon hearing those words, Maui seemed to snap out of whatever trance he was in.

"Of course I remember!" He said with a chuckle, his chuckle not sounding dark nor evil or anything, making her feel a bit relieved, "I was just messin' with ya!" Moana was confused, not knowing whether the stone was cursing him but waiting until her trust was gained to have him attack or if he somehow wasn't affected by the curse.

"So...you're not going to hurt me?" She asked, not yet letting her guard down just in case this was a trick, "Because you said...it was the opposite of the Heart of Te Fiti." Maui shrugged.

"Guess it doesn't have the power to affect me." He said, opening his hand and looking down at it, "Considering it was made by a mortal and doesn't belong to a god or goddess, maybe it can't curse demigods." He then tucked it between his skirt and his hip as he smiled at her. "And believe me, it'd take a _lot_ of power to actually curse a demigod, so whatever magic was used to curse this object, it wasn't powerful enough. The gods can grant mortals magic powers, but they make sure the strength of the magic isn't powerful enough to match a demigod's powers or theirs."

"Because they can use it for stuff like this." Moana said in realization.

"Yeah, and making stuff like this is sure to get their powers stripped from them." Maui explained, glancing at the stone before looking back at Moana, "There's a rule the gods have that forbids using powers for anything bad, like cursing an object. The reason? The gods don't want to be known for giving powers to people who will misuse them. It'd just make them look bad."

"So what should we do with the Heart?" Moana asked as she glanced at the object, "Is there anything we can do?"

"Best thing to do is bring it to the gods." Maui explained, holding the Heart in his hand, "Well, first we go around islands trying to find out who made this, get more information on it, then take it – and the person who created it, whether they want to or not – to the gods so they can deal with it." He then smirked as he held his hook out and looked at it. "And if the person who created it _doesn't_ come with us, I think my hook and I will be able to convince them." Moana frowned.

"Um, wouldn't that be a bad thing to do?" She asked, kind of concerned about what it could do to his image, "I mean...hurting whoever did it could get you in trouble with his people, right? Or at least, the gods." Maui smiled at her as he began to walk out of the forest, holding his hook over his shoulder.

"Trust me, if the gods don't approve of cursing objects, they won't care if I have to talk some sense into the person who did it." He said as she followed him, "I'm pretty well-known around the Pacific Islands, so the people inhabiting these islands know who I am." He twirled his hook before holding it over his shoulder again. "And whoever cursed this island wouldn't really mess with a demigod, anyway. Humans are much wiser than that." Moana ran to the shore after they exited the forest and hopped on the boat as Maui tossed his hook onto the deck before climbing onto it.

"So you're saying no one dared to mess with you before?" She asked, curious, "Like no one's questioned your power?"

Maui frowned, remembering one guy who questioned his powers after he had learned of Maui being born a human and being taken in by the gods: the main reason he had trouble opening up about his abandonment and the reason he had trouble opening up to people at all unless he knew he could fully trust them. Before that, Maui opened up to just about anyone about his past, but after the man had questioned him and the other villagers of the island began to as well, Maui didn't really know who he could trust, so he stopped opening up to people, wanting to avoid being questioned again since he didn't like people questioning his powers. Not to mention he almost got the urge to destroy the entire island in a fit of rage but decided against it and just flew off, never to be seen by its people again.

"Maui?" Moana asked after his memory ended, "You okay? No one _did_ question your powers, right?" She then wondered if she had done something wrong by asking him after seeing a glare appear on his face before his face softened again. She then decided it was possibly because of a bad memory.

"Look Curly," Maui said as he looked down with a sigh, "I...don't really want to talk about it right now... It's not that I don't trust you, but...it's kinda upsetting for me to talk about." Moana nodded, seeming to understand what he had meant. With how he had glared at what she assumed was a memory, it was easy for her to tell that the memory made him a bit angry and she knew what he was like when he got angry, not wanting to go there again and get thrown into the ocean.

"Well then," she began with a smile as she clapped her hands together, "shall we set sail for the island? Or, should I say, 'the islands', since we're going to be sailing to many of them." Maui chuckled.

"Yeah, sure." He said, pulling the sail to get the boat moving, "We've got plenty of islands to cover, anyway. So we better start now." He then passed Moana her oar before she turned it over so she could see the autographed side, smiling and placing her fingers fondly over the carving before sticking the oar into the water. Maui couldn't help but smile as he watched her before climbing up onto the mast.

"Next stop, the closest island to this one!" Maui announced cheerfully as he made wind blow on the sails.

Moana smiled at his attitude since she loved seeing him this way. Whenever he was happy, she was happy. Since restoring the Heart they seemed to have developed some kind of special connection where one's mood effected the other's mood, meaning that if one was happy, the other was too. If one was mad at something, the other was mad at it also. But arguments between them still stayed the same, the hurtful words still being exchanged back and forth, except like always it was Maui mostly saying them.

But right now, Moana was enjoying her time with Maui, knowing he was in one of his good moods. And when he was in this mood, she truly enjoyed being around him and never wanted it to end. Sometimes she enjoyed it so much that she'd try to keep him in that mood, though depending on the situation she'd either succeed or fail.

"You hungry Maui?" She asked as she dug in the supply for a coconut they could share. Maui just smiled and shook his head.

"Mo, I'm a demigod." He reminded her, still smiling at her, "But sure! I could use some food, especially since we might be travelling to several islands before finding the right one." Moana smiled before cracking open a coconut and giving Maui one half of it.

"To us solving this mystery once and for all." She said, holding her coconut half to his before they started to drink the water inside.

After they had eaten, Maui climbed back up on the mast to look out for any nearby islands. He spotted the one he'd pulled up in the distance before straightening the sail and taking a deep breath before blowing on it, causing the boat to go very fast.

"Whoa!" Moana cried as she clung on to the mast before looking up at Maui.

"Hang on, kid!" Maui yelled to her before looking straight at the island again, "This island I wanted to show you is _huge_!" Moana frowned.

"Can't you show me after our adventure?" She called back to him, "We need to find out who made the Heart of Te Kā and take them to the gods, right?" Maui frowned before taking the stone from between his skirt and hip and looking at it.

It flashed once, and Maui – thinking it would cause something bad to happen – chucked it right into the water ahead of him, his eyes wide and a frown on his face like when he'd thrown the Heart of Te Fiti into the water at the beginning of their journey to restore the Heart.

"MAUI!!" Moana shouted, running to the edge of the boat and reaching her hand out as if trying to catch it, her eyes wide-open and a shocked look on her face, "We're not supposed to do that!"

"Look Moana, that stone is cursed!" He argued, looking down at her, an obvious look of fear on his face, "It flashed once and I didn't want to take the chance of it burning our boat down!" Just as he finished saying that, the ocean chucked the stone back onto the canoe and as it slid towards Moana she picked it up and placed it gently inside her necklace.

"Thanks, Ocean." She said with a smile as she clicked her necklace shut, "Now it should be safe in here." Maui looked shocked and as he looked at the ocean, holding his free hand out in Moana's direction, it sprayed him in the face with a small stream of water before he spit it out.

"C'mon, really!?" He complained to it, "You want us to die?" The ocean just shook its "head" in response.

"I think it wants us to continue to search the islands for the creator of the stone." Moana guessed, placing a hand on her locket as she glanced at it. The ocean then nodded in response.

"Well if I die, you two stay away from my funeral." Maui said, placing his free hand on his hip before sighing and turning the sail to change course as Moana caught a glimpse of the island Maui had told her about before taking her to the cursed island earlier.

"Wow, that island is big." Moana said, amazed, "How were you able to pull that up?" Maui smirked as he looked down at her.

"I'm a demigod, Mo." He said, flexing his free arm's muscle, "Remember? We're strong, and if I wasn't strong, I wouldn't be pulling up these islands for you guys." Just as Maui had finished, he caught a glimpse of something small and orange-ish colored from the corner of his eye on the top of the sail and his smile quickly faded to a look of shock as he looked in its direction.

"Uhh, Moana?" He said, his eyes wide with horror, "I told you it was cursed." As Moana looked up, she gasped.

* * *

**Okay, here is the rewritten fifth chapter. I hope you liked it! Also if you haven't seen the original fifth and sixth chapters, I'm thinking of adding them at the end of the story when I'm finished with it. But for right now, I'm off to writing the new sixth chapter to this story.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it so far and the reason I rewrote it is so there could be more adventure in it instead of having to wait two or so chapters for there to be some – if not more – adventure in the story.**


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